This is a list of “hobby hunters” who kill only for the “fun” of killing. No ethics, no morality, just bragging rights for marginally civilized individuals with no other socially acceptable outlet to unleash their anxieties.

Hi reg,
I would like them to take the radio collars off wolves and leave them alone. There is no animal that is more harrassed then wolves. They are tracked, darted, collared, chased by helicopters, shot from airplanes, their pups are slaughtered in their dens before they even have a chance for life, they’re poisoned, poached…the list goes on and on. Wolves need to be left alone.

Glad you guys out in the West are so tough! Why don’t you guy guys fight them one on one with no rifle? You “macho” punks are a bunch of Pussys!
Maybe some day you will realize the harmony of the planet and how every piece of the puzzle is important! Till then, you will suck your entire,
unimportant lives!MadMac

Madmac, first of all we can’t catch them on foot to kill them. Second of all it is a bunch of sorry people that wasted millions of dollars reintroducing an animal that was already here. Now we have thousands of ranch animals, (like sheep, cattle…just in case you did not know what a ranch is) that are slaughtered by the wolf. In fact 22 sheep in one killing. The wolf also kills for sport, actually blood. Now the government also has to spend money on all the livestock that is destroyed. The rancher can never make that up in financial gains. Once again our government making use of money we do not have.

I’m sorry for the ranch animals, but sincerely do you think that this is a new problem ranch owners are facing? NO! its something that has been happening for centuries. why don’t ranch owners figure out a way to keep wolves out like they have for centuries? It cant be that hard, we are humans! we think and rethink and find solutions. Why should killing be one of them?

I see some fiction below.
Since I have lived where predators still do, I have always noticed that when they leave a kill, they always return, unless the prey was taken by some other.

Domestic “property” is a fiction on the real Earth, and domestic sheep have been bred to be utterly unfit for existence without shepherds.
To claim that introduced human populations, ways of life, and notions of ownership is more real or more valid than the needs of native species once profoundly healthy and balanced in North American ecosystems, is nothing more than invaders’ greed.

I have slipped under crags where the mountain lion leaves his mark near weekly, and enjoy knowing that I will not kill out of fear or quivering imagination. I’ve seen the wolf comfortable at 30 below, when any of my exposed skin is in trouble after an hour. This tells me that we are not made to be masters of these mountains, this continent, and are right now out of control. I agree with a bear with whom I was once local, that the possessor of dinner has the ultimate right to it, and both he and I have made that clear to one another.
But then, i think a guy named John Dalberg once said something I’ll quote in relation to guns (men have lived for uncounted generations hundreds of thousands of years without them, and humans are not suited to the power they give):
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

That statement was made about humans. Predators, on the other hand, by nature are uncorrupted.
These posters below, like me, have been overexuberant teenage boys, and may look with sympathy on them, but unlike me, they fail to be able to extend this recognition to young wolves.

Eric for the ranchers to keep them out they shoot them. This is what kept the wolf at bay for centuries (as you put it).. Like I said before the wolf was already here, (and will never go away) and people that do not live here should not be able to dictate what Montana does. Now they are getting ran over on the highways in Montana. What will eventually happen is the ranchers and hunters will have to knock the numbers down due to; to many killings (once again it sure is nice to see that our government has enough money to spend on the wolf and replacing lost livestock, yet we are how many trillions in debt???due to poor choices). Do a check on the Yellowstone elk herd and when the wolf was reintroduced there….I believe that started with over 20,000 head and now under 6,000 and just for good measure I do not hunt elk.

Ranchers are the biggest bunch of whining crybabys on the planet. They get the govt to lease them land so they do not have to pay to own the land, then they pretend they do own the land. Ranchers always bump up claims of wolf predation. Then, when the wolf is exterminated, the ranchers blame the elk and dear for eating the food their livestock eats, so they want to exterminate the elk and dear.

During my time in Nevada, the ranchers whined about the horses, so the BLM used to have these big round ups.

I raised wolves, a pack of six. I tried to get some of my neighbors to use them for protection of their sheep and chickens. Even when my alpha female chased away two coyotes that were raiding the geese, most of the ranchers and others refused to believe they could do something other than wipe out the whole coyote population. If ranchers actually gave a damn about justice and their herds, they might want to actually raise some wolves in their herds. One of the best defenses against wolves are more wolves, and those wolves thinking of the herd as their pack. I could guarantee you that your wolf problems will go down and go away with wolves protecting your herds, but ranchers have a love of slaughter that is sublime and sad.

If you wish to claim right of habitation, you should go to the Blackfeet with senior right, who honor the Wolf as Brother.

The later immigrants , well, maybe they should do as the Blackfeet do, or since wolves antedate us all, merely do as the wolf does, and not hinder those who are not needed at this moment for a lunch date.

Makuyi is the name by which the Wolf is known. Honor him, your elder and wiser brother. He has many things to teach you about living. He has accepted your presence. I tell you this from the people who were more original here.

murdering serial killing is a state of mind ..no wonder they have so many school shootings.. what is happening to the US? They have a kill kill mentality and a primeval fear or is it a desire to kill wolves.. they are a sick sick sick nation

Have these wolf killers ever spent an hour or a day in the woods just watching wolves? Did their parents teach them to value wildlife- just watch and respect? That should be a requirement in elementary school- a field trip of restraint of the wanton killing and just watch them. Then, there may be a chance that you may think first before killing.

Hi Brian,
I appreciate your opinion. I really do. I’m not one sided I’m just pro wolf and this website is a refuge for people that support wolves. We lost over five hundred wolves in 2009 and the Idaho hunt continues. The hysteria about wolves has reached a fever pitch. I really wish everyone could come together on this but it’s so polarized now that that may never happen, I’m sad to say.

Just went to a wolf hunting site and there was a picture of a wolf with his back end blown away and intestines hanging out. I can’t believe that anyone could do that to an animal. Wolves hunt for food and survival. They may sometimes kill more then they can eat at one sitting but it’s not killing for fun. It’s man that carries high powered rifles with scopes and kills things for fun. Dogs do the same thing because their human masters taught them to kill for fun.

You sound like a nice guy and I have nothing against you, we just don’t agree on this. Wolves are predators doing what predators do.

g….
They are too entangled in elk dogma to open their eyes to other possibilities. When you live in a bubble and never talk to anyone outside your circle, this is the way you think. Wolf advocates on the other hand have had to watch as over 500 wolves lost their lives. I wonder what they would think if the state reduced the elk herd by 1/3 and all they could do is sit by and watch. All hell would break loose.

let them get over populated and you will see the elk herd get reduced by 1/3 along with the farmers life stock, i well agree with you on some of your thoughts, they are every pretty animals, and like you said they are predators and do hunt to eat, byt perrty or not they do have to be kept to a controlable number.

Hi Robert,
Sorry you’re buying into wolves decimating livestock or ungulate populations. I can assure you that’s just not going to happen. There are 30 million deer in the US and over a million elk. Actually the number of deer in the US in 2010 is the same as their population numbers when the Jamestown settlement was founded in 1607..

Deer were almost wiped out in this country but it wasn’t by wolves.

From Wiki:“A century ago, commercial exploitation, unregulated hunting and poor land-use practices, including deforestation severely depressed deer populations in much of their range. For example, by about 1930, the U.S. population was thought to number about 300,000.” Humans once again responsible for decimating wildlife.” What a shock.

In the tri-state region of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, as of Spring 2009, there were 360,000 elk. No danger of elk being decimated by wolves. Humans are another story. With their high powered rifles and hunting gimmicks they certainly don’t practice fair chase when killing ungulates. Wolves on the other hand earn every kill they make. They actually give fair chase.

Out of a population of SIX MILLION cows in the Northern Rockies, wolves killed a minuscule 214 cattle. More cows were killed by vultures in 2005 then wolves.

The anti-wolf crowd loves putting out this propaganda but that’s all it is, propaganda.

Wolves are self regulating. Wolves and ungulates have been co-existing together for thousands of years without any help from “wolf management”. How many elk did hunters kill last year? That’s the question you should be asking yourself. The problem is hunters see wolves as competition and don’t want them around. Because state game agencies get their cash from hunter’s licensing fees it creates a conflict of interest, wolves are on the losing end every time.

Ted Williams put it succinctly when he said:

Wolves do not purchase hunting licenses, and most state wildlife managers draw their pay from revenue derived from sale of hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses. That, in brief, is what is wrong with wildlife management in America….
—Ted Williams, 1986

Nebeki, Did you hear about the eastern elk that became extinct due to overhunting by humans and habitat loss. That may be something good to say when wolf haters use the ‘wolves are killing all the elk’ line, becasuse wolves were already gone before the elk became extinct in 1877.

The Wood Bison of the New England to Mississippi forest are gone by humans too.
The Woodland Caribou of conifer forest are gone by humans, except for a pitiful few mountain relatives in the tiny area of the Rockies.
The Antelope, Plains Bison, are gone by the gun.
The Grizzly who knew no master, once lived over most of the continent, is near gone – by the gun.

Fenced yards with leaf-blown lawns are coveted by those indoorsmen sportsfans who fancy themselves outdoorsmen, wanting some elk to shoot, but not too far from their monster trucks.

The Wolf, the original hunter who once moved with men among the fierce and fleet wild herds, has returned again to inspect his land. It is now filled to overflowing with fearful and greedy humans who kill from a vast, safe distance.

SkyHawk, the wolfers who poisoned the wolf ahead of the massive immigration were mostly beaver and fur trappers who took everything they could that way, and then, after impoverishing the world in that way, took the wolves, leaving the land empty for generations.

The emptiest land you will ever see, are the cities of men. Ranchers could not come, until cities made their occupation lucrative. They are dependent upon, and use tools made by cities.

I walked for long with a wolf, whose head was bigger than yours, who knew his way in utterly new places in snowstorms in country so steep there are no footprints except in the valleys. He knew more from the first, about all necessary things, and as he would watch or test other animals, and rest, unconsciously or consciously participated in beauty.
The Dine’/Navajo for one other people, used to seek to remind themselves of the preeminence of beauty above all other experience, with personal chants sung when traveling alone.

As he grew old, I began to realize that he, the wolf, was experiencing something in the wind once bitterly cold to me, until I rested long enough with him. I learned that the Athabaskan people learned from the wolf about this thing, Beauty.

As you know, N, Wolves make elk stronger to live in nature and smarter when dealing with human hunters… with wolves around in their rightly place, humans are forced to think about a more strategic “hunt” of elk. with no wolves, why not be lazy and shoot an elk from your truck with a Pabst in your hand? What kind of strategy is that? Its about like hunting at Walmart.

With all that’s taking place in this country, we have these camo-clad, creepy, psychopathetic cowards crawling around with their high powered weapons trying to make a hero out of themselves by killing an animal that’s doing what animals do…..trying to survive.
74 deranged and disgusting individuals.

What wolfs do to survive is a story with in a story. What I find ironic is that theses wolf haters constantly complain that elk numbers are down and that they must be saved. Research is showing for the most part just the opposite. Elk numbers are stable! Furthermore the only reason these uninformed wolf hater want elk numbers to increase to artificially

high numbers is so they can go back to the days of the easy hunt. Today they have to get out of their pickup truck and work for their elk. Dont tell me there are no elk out there. I see them all the time….but then again I walk further then one hundred yards into the forest.

Marc…I swear all I get are comments about poor elk and the wolf is decimating elk when there are over 150,000 elk in Montana alone. They think it’s all about them and elk. I’m so sick of hearing it.

LOL on getting out of their pickups and walking further then a 100 yards. They like elk to be standing around for an easy kill. Well that’s not going to happen when the great canine is around. Plain and simple they see the wolf as competition. They want to kill the elk they profess to love. So who’s the killer here? The one that hunts for food or the one that hunts for pleasure with high powered rifles and scopes?

Wolves are responsible for the fleetness of foot of the elk. Not some hunter looking to take the biggest and the best.

Nabeki,
If you see the names uncounted everywhere, of Elk rivers, Elk creeks, Antelope valleys, Bear rivers, you will slowly understand that men took away all the elk, and the others.

The wolf and the great bear lived in these places with many, many elk in the early successional zones and watercourses that flood yearly so that deep forest does not cover.

The hunters who post here ignore the market hunting that went on for miners, in gold rushes. This devastated the lands of the living balance.

The termite-men who logged so many places from Michigan to the Pacific, also ate what market hunters provided.

The elk would have rebounded, if not for the continuing growth of human influx. The hunters are merely some of those influx who were never taught that all beings deserve life and respect, even if we must kill to live. They go to their day jobs of making more pavement, more houses, more THINGS, and were never taught nor treasure the living Earth in which they are immersed from birth to death.

They imagine tragedy as loss only to themselves, while imposing it upon this living Earth, of whom the Wolf is made to give health and balance.

Because the Wolf knows you (I have seen him evaluate within a moment, others of every kind), with all this tragedy for a time, the Wolf will keep coming, until it can return and be home in that living Earth, made for it, as he was made for Earth.

I am currently writing a essay for English and this website was so useful!The Wall of shame was definitely the saddest list of names… But really was useful when showing examples. I live in north eastern Montana so I don’t hear about wolves too much, but I believe that it is terrible. Howling for Justice.

I stood on my porch this morning and listened to a wolf howling in the meadow across from my cabin. What an incredible sound! Unfortunately, the ranchers around me probably also heard the howls, which means a WS plane will be flying around the valley again, come daybreak.

Your very welcome Nancy. Hearing your comments and the comment by the student that was writing an essay about wolves for English, makes it all worthwhile. I want to provide a place for wolf advocates to come where they won’t feel harrassed or for anyone that’s interested and cares for these magnificent animals.

For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki

ps. There was a “wolf moon” last night, the biggest and brightest moon of the year.

What possible enjoyment can one feel from murdering a wild and beautiful animal.
What possible ‘sport’ is there in shooting soft and vulnerable flesh with a bullet?
What joy is there in inflicting terror and pain?

History will be the judge of mankind to allow this to happen, and so will God be the judge of the killers who committed the crimes.

Hi Sharon,
I’ve asked myself these questions over and over. The only thing I can come up with is sheer blood lust and zero respect for animal life. Shooting a wolf can’t be excused as sustenance hunting, the sole purpose is the thrill of the kill. Add to that hatred and persecution of a species. This quote is especially relevant.

“We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflexed images of ourself.” -Farley Mowat

I’m really hard pressed to try and figure out why someone would take any joy in killing anything let alone a wolf. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a vegetarian and I fully support the consumption of meat. However, we have evolved (somewhat) as a civilization to treat farm animals humanely, but I know we can do much better. I also understand the hunter who wants to truly “hunt” and take prey so that the entire animal can be used. What I don’t get is the senseless slaughter of animals done because some “he-man” didn’t get enough attention from daddy while growing up. You want to hunt? Then hunt, you gutless cowards. Don’t hide in a tree with the ground littered with bait, motion sensors, and a high powered rifle. Just do everyone a favor and drive your monster truck, go back to your trailer, watch Jerry Springer, and eat a bologna sandwich you bought from the store. I can’t wait until all this is over and we humans get what’s coming to us – whatever that may be. We stink as a species.

Hi KDT,
You summed it up pretty well. It’s the same people that use dogs to tree mountain lions and then shoot them. Fair chase? They wouldn’t know it if they tripped over it. Wolves are being hammered from all sides. They’re a political football. Politicians use them to get votes and keep the thillcraft culture humming along. It’s a culture that’s hedonistic, believes the world revolves around them, that our public lands are their own personal playground and animal life has no worth.

Thank you. Finally you state the obvious. We are a murderous, greedy, destructive species. We need to go away. I am certain that we wll be “cleaned” by the organism that we inhabit. The sooner the better. p.s. I hunt, sorry.

I believe you mentioned in one of your previous articles Nabeki, that Idaho Fish & Game has extended the hunting season on wolves thru March. How many of those wolves will be females who won’t live to whelp pups in April?
If that angers any of you like it did me, then email

Go Nancy!!
Yes they have extended the hunt in Idaho right through wolf breeding and denning season. Wolves are mating now in the Northern Rockies while they are being chased by hunters in Idaho. There are 74 wolves left in the Idaho wolf kill quota. Wolves will be returning to their den sites to whelp in mid to late March while hunting season continues through the rest of the month. Many of these den sites are well known. It will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Pregnant alphas will be killed. It’s disgusting. The hunt was supposed to end on December 31, 2009 but the Idaho commissioners extended it. I guess they were afraid the quota wouldn’t be reached. I’m boycotting Idaho products, especially their potatoes.

nabeki’ I have been traveling with a big arctic wolf for about 8 years now.they leave a profound effect on you. it’s not sporting like to hunt something that don’t hunt you back. (cowards) If the hunters want sport, let them hunt this old army ranger (vietnam ’68 . I TOO BOYCOTTED IDAHO, though i still spend time in sawtooth, i am careful never to spend a cent in the state , and never will as long as that draftdodging Butch Otter is governor.

Hi Jerry,
How did you come to travel with an arctic wolf for so many years? Arctic wolves are very beautiful.

You are so right, hunting wolves is like picking off fish in a barrel. Apparently in Idaho it’s not even illegal for hunters to have access to their radio collar telemetry. How ridiculous is that? That’s why I’m completely against radio collaring wolves. Maybe in National Parks but I’m starting to believe we should just leave wolves alone, even there. None of the biologists in Yellowstone are interestedi in helping the lone Druid female that’s left, even though she’s plagued with mange and she’s so hungry she’s eating snow. That is heartbreaking. It’s not as if they are hands off in the parks, they handle wolves all the time.

I can think of nothing more cowardly then stalking animals with high powered rifles for trophys. The animals don’t have a chance. How many hunters would be so brave if they went out into the woods without their big guns and traps? I’d say there would be no hunting of predators.

The definition of activism: the taking of direct action to achieve a political or social end.

The word activist, over the years, has become a frightening (and hateful) word out here in the west, simply because there are now growing numbers of people (all over the country) who are passionate and more aware of wildlife’s RIGHT to exist in what’s left of wilderness.

Nabeki, I don’t blame you one bit for doing this. Hunters who kill wolves for sport are worthless human trash. The fact that a hunter can kill a pregnant female wolf disgusts me too. These hunters have no regard for animal life at all. I hope karma gets them down the line.

Thanks Jon….
I don’t have second thoughts at all about doing it. It’s public record, not a secret. Killing wolves for fun is disgusting so if they don’t want anyone to know about it they shouldn’t do it.

I saw pics that were up on a wolf hunting website. I got sick to my stomach it was so bad. They shoot them in their backside so they don’t ruin the pelts. These animals are dying excruciating deaths, I can’t even imagine their cries of pain. It’s so cruel. Do they think about this at all?

Nancy said: “The word activist, over the years, has become a frightening (and hateful) word out here in the west, simply because there are now growing numbers of people (all over the country) who are passionate and more aware of wildlife’s RIGHT to exist in what’s left of wilderness.”

and growing numbers of those people in the west. The status quo will be changing because of new blood into the west! hey its the name of the game- the globe is a small place for millions/billions of people.

Hello Morningstar,
There are so many causes and animals in need you could get overwhelmed. For me I’m concentrating on wolves because they need our help, They are dying in record numbers and have no voice. I have a list of contacts to call or write protesting the wolf hunt in Idaho and also the killing of wolves by Wildlife Services for the livestock industry. If you want to make a difference you can write to the contacts and express your opinion about the wolf killing. Here’s the link:https://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/take-action-for-wolves/

Only you know what you’re passionate about. It could be wolves, grizzly bears, mountain lions, whales, climate change, wild horses, farm animal abuse. My advice is to pick something that you care about and devote your time and energy to that cause.

I agree with Nabeki, there are so many causes out there concerned about the plight of wildlife. Some like Western Watersheds, dedicate their energies towards restoring natural habitats or keeping it intact. Whether its them or an organization like Defenders Of Wildlife, become a member, it inables them to continue to fight for wildlife. Arm yourself with the facts, spread the word and don’t back down! Nabeki has some great information on this site.

Two packs of wolves were recently exterminated in my area, one female was able to escape the massacre because her collar had been chewed off. Lets hope it wasn’t a fluke and she’s some how able to find a mate and pass that ability on to her pups someday!

Footloose Montana is a group of people trying to get an initiative on the ballot here in Montana to stop trapping on public lands. Lack of regulations endangers all wildlife and our pets. If you live in Montana, volunteer to get signatures. They need over 24,000 registered voter signatures to make it happen.

And read, read, read!

The root problem in the relationship between humans and Nature is our pathological drive to domesticate the land and to destroy those wild animals that do not accept our overlordship. Michael Robinson’s thorough history of our war against the wolf in the West is an insightful, eloquent, humble, and much needed study of that sickness. Predatory Bureaucracy is deep and wise.”
– Dave Foreman, president of The Rewildling Institute

Thanks Dave…for your invaluable information. I have read Predatory Bureaucracy several times. You’ve got to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going…that certainly applies to wolves. People need to read this book to understand the history of the extermination of wolves in the West and the sheer calculated, brutality of it.

I’m blown away by this news out of Colorado Dave. Especially that Cristina Eisenburg is involved. She has done wonderful work in the North Fork of the Flathead on wolves and trophic cascades. I hope the DNA is a match. There are almost 300,000 elk in Colorado…it’s perfect wolf habitat!! You gave me a good news story to write about tonight…Thanks!!

I am very encouraged as well about wolves in Colorado. They couldn’t have landed in a better place if it turns out to be true. The ranch is huge, something like three hundred square miles. And they are welcome there. Some good news in a sea of bad wolf news this season. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Most hunters just don’t unserstand how an ecosystem works,they only care about having lots of elk around to fill their walls with hunting trophies…
Ranchers can look for non-lethal ways to keep wolves away from their livestock,they can reproduce wolf howls,so other nearby packs will know not to get in that area,because this is a way that wolves mark their territory.
I don’t know how somebody would stand to killing such a majestic creature.It is simply disgusting.”Wall of Shame”is a good name for it.Those people really should be ashamed of what they’ve done for their own pleasure.Once I saw a video about this hunter that went with his friend to hunt cougars,there was this magnificent cougar resting in a tree,the hunters pointed at it,and BAM!the cougar made a violent move and fell off the tree,crashing through all the branches,only to end agonizing in the ground.
At the end,the hunters showed off proudly what they had done,a dead cougar with it’s mouth filled with blood,and they showed a grin in their face,I was startled when I saw this video,my mouth was open,I just don’t understand how can hunters do such things,and then showing happines and triumph at what they made,it’s simply disgusting…

Hi Loua,
I don’t comprehend that mindset either. I was raised with animals my entire life and don’t understand blowing a beautiful wolf away with a high powered rifle. Trophy hunting is particularly evil because there is no reason for it other then killing for fun and sport. It’s just baffling to me.

Most of us who appreciate sites like Howling For Justice, can’t relate or understand anyone who gets their “jollies” out of killing an animal for sport. Definatley the dark and unwanted side of human beings. I have to wonder where else that dark side spills over to……….

Nabeki, may I ask you a few questions about wolves? I would love to get your thoughts on some of these claims and myths made about wolves. Is there any truth to these claims that there are 200 pound wolves in Idaho and Montana and Wyoming? Also, are the wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming a non native wolf that is much bigger than the wolves that were wiped out in the 1930s?

Hi Jon,
There is no truth to the claim there are two hundred pound wolves running around in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. I give it as much credence as the Big Foot myth. The record is held by a wolf in Alaska in 1939 that weighed 179 lbs. The gray wolves brought from Canada and reintroduced into Yellowstone and Central Idaho have several names but all are the same sub-species of gray wolf (canis lupus occidentalis), which is the largest of the gray wolf sub-species. It’s common names are the Mackenzie Valley wolf, Northwestern wolf, the Rocky Mountain wolf or the Timberwolf. They weigh between 85-115 lbs but can weigh as much as 145 lbs. They are tall wolves and can stand approx. 32-36 inches at the shoulder. Females are usually 20% smaller. Their historic range would have included parts of the Western United States, Northern Rockies, so they are not transplants, they were exterminated in the West by a brutal poisoning, shooting and trapping program carried out by our own federal government. Many of the wolf sub-species that existed before the slaughter are now extinct.

To understand the extermination of wolves in the West I recommend reading Michael Robinsons’s groundbreaking book, Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and The Transformation of The West.

Hope this answers your questions!! I was thinking of doing a post on this very subject.

Jon,It’s scare tactics.Wolves do not know state or country boundries. They disperse.They roam from Canda to the U.S. If they weren’t introduced,they would have been probably been shot entering the U.S.years ago.

Hi Rita,
What many people don’t realize is wolves dispersed from Canada to Glacier National Park long before their official reintroduction in 1995. The fear mongering, lies and myths spread about wolves by wolf haters, are legion. They have pictures of elk killed by wolves on websites, as if this is some revelation. Of course wolves kill ungulates, they’re predators and kill to survive. I have seen horrific pictures of mountain lion and wolf kills on pro wolf hunting websites. I have seen deer in the forest wounded with arrows sticking out of them. So it’s a matter of the pot calling the kettle black. There is no doubt the most dangerous predator on the planet is not the wolf but humans. They accuse wolf advocates of being emotional about wolves but it’s that crowd that ramps up the rhetoric and myths about these magnificent animals. Ed Bangs, the US Fish and Wildlife Wolf Recovery Coordinator stated in an interview with NOVA, some ten years ago that: “Wolves are the parents, the mothers, the fathers, the brothers and sisters that we always hoped we could be. I mean there’s extreme loyalty among family members, it’s everything to them.”.

No matter what we say or do the anti wolfers will just keep churning out the hate. It’s our job to challenge these myths and dispel them.

When I read about what´s going on in Utah,about relocating or killing(not sure about that one)wolves for entering Utah I was like”What!?”I mean,wolves don’t have any idea if they are entering Utah or not,how would they know??!!
Nancy & Nabeki:Yeah,I just don’t understand how can someone kill an animal just like that,as if it weren’t a living being,as if it had’t had feelings,I don’t know anyone that understands it and I will not understand that kind of person if I ever met it.

Google the movie Earthlings. Its just a small reminder of mandkinds’s inability to relate to the other species we depend on and share the planet with. I’ve recommended it to friends and many can’t get thru the first 30 minutes because our species doesn’t want to be that close to the problem and still enjoy the benefits other “nations” afford us.

I agree Wolchild- some farmer with poor husbandry practices- ie letting your sheep or cows wander the pasture unsupervised, unattended. It ballooned from there- even though most of the Wild kingdom’s predators are just that, predators. Research how an alligator hunts down ungulates in Africa. Not to pretty, but they have to eat, have been doing it for millions of years, and gee, there are still ungulates to be had in the area.

No offense to anyone here but I know many people that are “Elk Enthusiasts” and complain that Wolves need to managed by hunters. Wolves are amazing animals and very majestic but need to be managed just like every other animal.

Hello NatureManager,
I’m sure you’ve heard all sorts of things from Elk Enthusiasts but wolves and elk have been coexisting for thousands of years. Elk numbers are up in 23 states. including Montana and Idaho and that is from The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation 2009 press release.April 27, 2009
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
Elk Population Reflects Success of RMEF’s First 25 YearsConservation Group Celebrates New Data on Milestone Anniversary http://www.rmef.org/NewsandMedia/NewsReleases/2009/ElkPopulations.htm

The people talking about “managing” wolves are just parroting what they hear. Elk hunters are being hypocritical when they speak of their concern for elk since they are blowing elk away themselves. They see the wolf as their competition. Wolves do a better job managing ungulates then hunters and that’s a fact but facts don’t seem to matter much when it comes to wolves.

I’m answering your comment because you were polite enough to offer your opinion and I appreciate that. I completely disagree wolves need to me managed. What we need is education about the role wolves play keeping habitat healthy. Here’s a great article about wolves contribution to forest health.

This is funny, the wolf activist think that by posting the names of these hunters that it will some how make a differents. I live in western wyoming and have lived here since I was born and I have more respect for nature and everything in it than I could ever express. But at the same time I am a hunter and have been one since I was 14 I am now 26 I was taught by my father how I can feed my family with natural disease free meat from deer and elk. Do I enjoy hunting, no I do not, I shed tears every time I harvest a animal and I have never harvested a animal that i didnt eat but one day very soon I will quit hunting all together mainly for the reason that Game and fish in wyoming are managing are Muledeer herds wrong and its a complete killing spree every fall so how come activist never step up and do something about how the Muledeer and the rest of our great wildlife that are getting inilated every fall because of over hunting. Do I believe every wolf should be killed just because I am hunter, no I do not but I do think they need to be managed so that there populations dont get out of control. Our wildlife in wyoming have a hard enough time surviving longer than 3 years with the harsh winters we have, the over hunting and many other facters that are against there long term survival. I am not one of those people that say I was hunting and there was no elk in the area because wolves chased them out, and believe me I have heard it a hundred times. Its simply not true, One july day I watched a pack of wolves running playing and rolling around in the snow drifts on a alpine slope for close to 3 hours. Once they left over the hill about 3 minutes went past and a herd of 75 cow and calf elk fed over the same hill the wolves went over they fed and bedded down on the same hill side the wolves were on. But on the other hand I have seen the horrific violence that wolves can be capible of after all they are animals. I have seen families dogs get ripped apart while camping by wolves, elk running around with there guts hanging out of there bodies while a pack of wolves is chasing them down and begin to eat them alive. So you cant sit here and be one sided on this and say every wolf should be allowed to live there has to be sound managment involved so every body and the wolf can live together. Again I want to make it clear to everyone that I am not a mindless killing machine that loves to kill animals for sport and thinks the only good wolf is a dead wolf. I love all animals and I think wolves have more of a right to be here than most of the humans that are taking over the wolves and the rest of the wildlifes land and poluting there environment. Further more they should have never been killed off in the first place only managed right but back then all you had running the west was a bunch of single minded ranchers(almost the same as now)who didnt want any predators killing there livestock. So I hope you will see that wolves are wonderfull creature but they do need to be managed right. Also please dont delet my post

Hi JesseG,
You wrote a very moving from the heart comment. Thanks for being polite and at least trying to understand wolf advocates side of the picture. There is such a deep chasm between wolf advocates and the anti wolf people that I don’t think it will ever be breached. I think they think that people that advocate for wolves believe wolves are furry, little creatures that run around in the woods who we can hug and sing Kumbaya with, which of course is ridiculous. Wolves are top line apex predators and they kill just like apex predators do. They kill like the grizzly, the mountain lion, the shark, the lions, the tigers and so on. It’s never pretty but it’s what they do. I don’t judge them for it. They kill to survive. BUT wolves are also majestic, beautiful animals who are terrific parents, with a rich social life. The pack is everything to them. They also contribute to the health of our ecosystems. When the wolf was absent from Yellowstone for sixty years the aspen and willow trees were grazed down by elk that hung out near river beds. The elk were complacent and not afraid to stand around all day browsing down the trees. Once the wolf came home the elk changed their behavior to high alert. They no longer stood around but browsed and moved, browsed and moved. This gave the aspen and willow trees a chance to grow higher then five feet and now after fifteen years, the trees are tall again. Aspen habitat is some of the richest songbird habitat in the world. They provide shade along stream and river beds where trout seek refuge from the sun. Insects fall from their branches and feed the fish. With the rebirth of the aspen the beaver and song birds returned. It was a rebirth in Yellostone, all because the wolf came home.

Since wolves are natural enemiies of coyotes and coyotes eat Pronghorn Antelope fawns, there has been an increase in Pronghorn antelope.

When apex predators are removed from the ecosystem the mesopredators take over, such as the coyote.Study: Loss Of Top Predators Causes Major Ecosystem, Economic Disruptions
Posted on Friday, October 02, 2009 (PST)http://www.cbbulletin.com/358391.aspx

Again thanks for stopping by and voicing your opinion. I don’t allow posts from people that come here to vent, hate wolves in general or have nothing to contribute but your post was reasoned and thoughtful. I hope you have a chance to read the article on apex predators.

First off, I am a hunter, I don’t hate wolves but believe they need to be managed like every other big game animal. There are a lot of hunters who hate wolves. Their emotional hatred is as asinine as some of you folks emotional love. They do have a place in the west, but not all of it.

Try to look at the situation from a non-emotional stand point..If it weren’t for hunters, we wouldn’t have any game left. A great president, Teddy Roosevelt,a life long hunter (and ironically, a progressive) made sure we would have majestic big game for the future, and wild places (National Forrests, BLM, national parks).

Hunters fund game management, and habitat restoration. IF you don’t think these things are needed, you just aren’t being realistic. I know one of the arguments is to let the wild predators control the prey species, it simply will not work. Unfortunately, human encroachment in critical habitat, means human conflict will run rampant if the numbers of predator and prey are not controlled. Like it or not, that is mans job…but it does not mean we cant have balance.

I know I am not going to change any minds here, just like you wont change mine, but I hope you will look into wildlife management, put the shoe on the ohter foot so to speak. I ask the same thing of ignorant so called hunters, and I sadly agree their are plenty of them.

Hi Steve,
We disagree on the “management” of wolves which is basically a euphemism for killing wolves.

Just for one moment think about Minnesota and the Great Lakes region. They have close to 4000 wolves and are able to live side by side with them in a much smaller land mass then Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Yes they have problems but the single biggest reason they successfully live with wolves is the ranchers and farmers practice good sound animal husbandry. They are pro-active. They use electrified fladry, guard dogs, llamas, they bring their sheep in for the night, they use sheep herders…etc. They make it their business to protect their investment. Most Western ranchers think that the American people owe them something. They think they can just sit back in wolf country and graze their animals unsupervised and if the wolves, mountain lions or grizzlies kill their livestock they get on the phone to FWP or IDGF and complain. They expect Wildlife Services to come in with their gunships blazing and kill those predators for them.

It all started four hundred years ago when the Europeans came to this continent and thought they could practice this kind of ranching here, since they killed off all their large carnivores in Europe. So they went about killing anything and everything, all the elk the deer, everything, especially our native carnivores. The last hundred years the feds purposefully and mercilessly eradicated an entire species just because ranchers didn’t want to be bothered by wolves. They poisoned, shot, practiced denning ( that’s the lovely practice of beating wolf pups over their heads in their dens and then killing the parents when they return.) Talk about brutal, what was done to the wolf was beyond brutal. And now here we are just fifteen years after wolf recovery and we’re back to the same mindset as when wolves were first eradicated. Why is it all about ranching and elk hunters? Why is it my responsibility to guarantee ranchers a living.? If Minnesota ranchers can live with three times the population of wolves in an area so much smaller then Montana, Idaho and Wyoming then something is very wrong and intolerant with Western ranchers. They use Wildlife Services as their own personal wolf extermination service and do next to nothing to protect their investment. Many ranch on public land, which belongs to all the American people, not just ranchers. The ranchers are the tenants there. The wolf should have dominion on public lands, not cows. Cattle grazing destroys more habitat and pollutes more streams then I could even document. Yet we tolerate this all in the name of agribusiness.

Also there were over 150,000 elk in Montana last Spring and 105,000 elk in Idaho. Plenty of elk. There is no reason that elk should be so important. Fish and game agencies only cater to hunters because their tags bring money into the state game coffers. That’s why state game agencies should never be allowed to manage wolves because there is a conflict of interest and they will always come down on the side of the elk hunters.

I know we don’t agree and probably never will but the wolf issue is far more complicated then saying wolves need to be managed.

You’ve struck a major belief here. You will notice that both the hunters posting and governments claim a “need” to manage other species, as if they were domestics, children, or out of their control of others’ future.

The definition of domestic would be “controlled” in ways that benefit one or more humans.

Yet the nature of all life is that it is only controlled by the combined constraints of all other life, along with climate and terrain. Humans are constrained to some extent even though they modify all environments into which they immigrate.

It seems strange that a hunter would claim to want to participate in wild nature, yet demand that that which is wild be managed for his purposes.

But i hunt not for tomorrow, but only for today. The wolf taught me that this was the right way to live. One does not need much when not trying to accumulate.

Everyone, everything you see will pass from its life, and the accumulation is futile and unfulfilling.

We see ridiculous desperation after a tsunami, a hurricane,a meteor passes. It takes form as demand for controls.

While not all hunters are attempting to control all, Guns seem to be the last refuge of those who would seek to possess, yet they cannot possess a moment of life of another.

This seems also to be the goal of demand for management.

I leave those who feel a need to control, to manage other beings,weather, the cosmos, to dispute over their greed and fear under that guise.

Further more if wolves are to be managed they need to be done so by people that understand wolves and there complicated lives not by a states Game and Fish they have no clue how to manage anything. And money needs to be taken out of the managment of wolves or any wildlife for that matter. Our Game and Fish put sound managment aside and only do the things that will make them the most money and thats selling more tags. We have many times in our area tried to get the Game and Fish to issue less deer tags and put the western part of the wyoming on limited quota and shorten the season we had thousands of signatures on a petitions and they still did nothing. I know what people might say if I care so much about the deer and elk then why do I harvest a animal every year well I dont. I havent hunted elk in 6 years I had a traumatic experience and will never hunt elk again. I harvested A deer last year and that was the first deer I harvested in 4 years I only hunt when I truly need the meat and only harvest what need. Further more if I had my way hunting would be stopped all together and the wildlife populations would be managed by natural predators that have more intelligence than the idiots that are managing our wildlife now.

“Further more if I had my way hunting would be stopped all together and the wildlife populations would be managed by natural predators that have more intelligence than the idiots that are managing our wildlife now.”

First, let me say that I am a deer hunter. To clarify I’m not a “trophy” hunter nor am I a “buck” hunter. I do enjoy hunting. I’ll even go as far as to say that I love it. It’s in my genetic make-up… I’m a “hunter-gatherer”. That being said,I do not kill anything I do not intend to eat. I’ve never shot at a wolf, coyote, fox, raccoon, opor any other animal except for my quarry – whitetail deer.

Reading back through some of the comments, I came across one statement that said something to the effect of “God will judge animal killers.” Since you bring God into the equation, I’d like to point out that there are numerous biblical passages from both the Old and New Testaments addressing mans dominion over animals – not for the welfare of the animals but as a source of labor, wealth and food. My personal favorite, as a bowhunter is Genesis 27:3.

Why are so many of you convinced that ALL hunters are bloodthirsty, mindless degenerates who trudge through the wilderness flinging arrows and bullets at anything that isn’t human? I certainly don’t argue the point that there are many hunters out there who give us a bad name, but I wish you would all understand that they really don’t represent the majority of us.

I don’t agree with “trophy hunting”, and I believe that is where wolf hunting falls. I would even go as far as to fight with you for the rights of wolves.

Hi Johnny,
I don’t believe all hunters are cruel or bloodthirsty and I’m not against sustenance hunting as I ‘ve stated before. I think if someone needs to really feed their families then that may be the right choice for them. I do know that tags, fees, ammunition, riflles…etc. are expensive, so hunting is not a poor man’s sport. BUT I am totally against trophy hunting, especially hunting wolves and treating wolves like they are deer or elk. They are not deer or elk, they have strong social bonds, they are devoted to their families, they mate for life and they are very good at controlling ungulates and keeping nature in balance. Predators serve a purpose in this world and because man has chosen to eliminate most of them whole ecosystems are collapsing.

Not sure if you’re aware that Wildlife Services killed almost five million animals last year in the name of agribusiness, now that’s a problem. The people that are worried about wolves should be concerned about Wildlife Services blowing away our native wildlife. Here’s a good site to visit to see the numbers. AGROhttp://www.goagro.org/ (A Coalition To End Aerial Gunning of Wildlife)

You are absolutely correct – big game hunting is definitely not a poor person’s sport. In fact, I’d have to say that I’ve never considered hunting a “sport”. Football and basketball are sports. To me, sports are supposed to be “sporting”, which in my mind means that the match is somewhat even with the outcome being unpredictable. I don’t see where hunting meets this criteria, but again, that’s just my opinion. Think about it though. I can’t help wondering how many of us would still hunt if the animals could shoot back. Hmmmm…

I wish we had wolves here where I live. Maybe they would have a positive impact on our coyote problem, and I wouldn’t mind sharing the deer either. Less than two months ago I lost a Great Pyrenees puppy in a fenced back yard in a residential area to coyotes. It didn’t endear me to them, but in my mind it’s still not a reason to kill them. There was no malice in their actions. They were just doing what they do.

I understand the emotions behind this issue, and I think that all of you care deeply about animals. The wolf is truely a majestic creature and an awesome and powerful predator. I think we can all agree that it is important to keep an open mind and a clear head when analyzing issues that can be deeply emotionaly for some.
As members of society and civilation, we are all partly responsible for the decline in wildlife habitat. The highways we drive on and the subdivisions we live in take up valuable acres of habitat and replace them with asphalt and stain resistant carpet.

Some of the comments here may disgust you(I think the moderator is good at removing most, but some aren’t caught immediately ), but DO NOT respond with any type of THREAT to the red-necks whose hateful messages are inadvertently posted even if only for a short time.
ANY TYPE OF THREATENING MESSAGE DIRECTED TOWARD THESE COWARDS CAN BE TRACED BACK TO YOU BY USING YOUR I.S.P. WE DO NOT WANT THAT!!!! THEY CAN GET THE LAW INVOLVED.
We’re a new organization and I trust all members will be respectful.
Thanks,
CLF

Yes, many people don’t know that when they post on someone’s forum, like this one, their IP address and email shows up, which can be traced back to them, especially if they make any threatening remarks. Very good point, CLF!!

I don’t want to call anyone names like “redneck”, but if it is okay to call names I would like to call all wolf haters “meanys.” They are meen and not smart like CLF said dont listen to them they can be tracked down by the ip and they will not be tolerrated.

I have read a lot of the post on your website and have come to the conclusion that most of them are geared toward the redneck that drinks bear and shoots animals senselessly from their truck! It’s a lot easier to have a conversation when people are well educated on all aspects of a situation. Yes, hunters do kill wolves for sport but not all hunters are the same. I have killed many animals over the years but was taught to never waste the meat and I don’t. I would rather eat wild game than a fat beef cow or pig that was injected with steroids or some other foreign substance!
I am a sportsman and I don’t promote the senseless slaughter of any animal! If the game commission is killing wolves as stated well shame on them, this is something I don’t agree with and never will but there needs to be some kind of population control. The wolf has no natural enemies other than humans as they are at the top of the food chain with the bear and mnt. lion. I’m not saying it’s right to kill animals for sport but the population needs to be controlled. I would hate to see wolves move into a suburban area like mountain lions have and start killing pets and possibly children.
I’m not here to start a fight with anyone or say what you stand for is wrong, I love wildlife too and enjoy watching animals in their natural habitat. I take animals selectively and when meat is needed not for sport. I know of a great many hunters that are the same as I.
Please don’t put sportsman and hunters in the same group because hunters are the killers and sportsman enjoy wildlife, not the kill!
I wish you all the best of luck with your fight.
Thank You,
Frankienick.

Thanks for you post Frankienick, it was honest and to the point. I disagree that wolves need to be controlled. Wolves are natural dispersers and will go where the best hunting is.

I don’t lump all hunters in the same group. I have friends that hunt but none that trophy hunt. Wolves are just off the endangered species list yet more then 500 died in 2009 from the hunts, Wildlife Services killing them for agribusiness, SSS and general mortality. No other animal is treated the way wolves have been treated. They kill so few livestock yet are tracked relentlessly, darted, collared, hunted, shot from airplanes, as if they were dangerous terrorists. The collars should be taken off wolves and let them live in peace. I would like to see the numbers on how many cattle and sheep die from disease, weather or reproductive issues, even altitude sickness. I can tell you the numbers are well over ninety percent of their total mortality. Domestic dogs kill more livestock then wolves. The livestock and elk killing is a red herring issue to whip up anti wolf hysteria, so people can justify killing them.

Idaho is clearly not able to manage wolves. That is a given. I hope they get relisted. It makes me feel a bit better that there are many out there who are disgusted and angered by what is going on. I can’t even think about all of those wolves dying sometime in the future.

I believe Molloy will relist them but I hope it’s not a narrow ruling based soley on Wyoming. I’m anticipating he will include genetic connectivity between the three sub-populations. That certainly has to have been diminished after we lost over 500 wolves in 2009. I hope his decision comes sooner rather then later, the longer this drags on the uglier it’s getting.

I read that article from George Nabeki and it’s a great article. It is the truth in my opinion. Check out this link. There are many wolf haters out there that claim there are 200 pound wolves. Maybe this article will shut them up!

Thanks for the link Jon. The wolves here now are the Mackenzie Valley wolves or Rocky Mountain wolves. I’m sure their range includes northwestern Montana, Idaho as well as Canada and Alaska. Does anyone believe, knowing the great travelers that wolves are, they wouldn’t disperse from Canada on their own? That’s what they did in the 1980’s, long before the reintroduction in 95. The stories I hear about giant wolves remind me of the big fish stories. They get bigger every time they tell it…

I’ve read through all of these posts and it’s definitely food for thought. Your posts are intelligent and well thought out (and polite when dealing with people who do not agree with you).

I will be one of those people you don’t agree with.

You evidently are active in deleting posts by pro-hunters who are emotional and speak their minds. But at the same time, you leave emotion ridden, biblical spewing posts condemning hunters. Either leave them both, or delete them all.

My point is this;
I am the person YOU want to educate. I am an open-minded hunter who is pretty much ignorant to wolves and their habits. When I see a site that includes intelligent, non-emotional, factual conversation on a subject that I truly want to learn about, I spend a few minutes and read it.

In this case, I have read through these posts and see one or two intelligent people posting in an unemotional manner and the rest just doing what the other side does (point fingers and blame), I lose interest fast.

If you truly, in your heart, want to make a difference; reread these posts on this site and delete any and all that: point fingers, go on an emotional tangent or are just down right wrong.

People like me ARE interested in being educated. I for one come from a State (Oregon), that had no input on the reintroduction of the wolves. We got “they are coming” and now we have “they’re here”.

There is A LOT of misinformation out there as you have already stated. Put that information out there for us and get rid of the posts that drive a nail between the groups.

Hi Singleshot,
There is a lot of info on this site about wolves. I write from a factual perspective but also I’m passionate about wolves. You can look in the categories section and browse to see what sparks your interest. Wolves are no different then any other predator in that they hunt to live. That’s their job. There is so much emotion flying around concerning them. I have received the most hateful comments that you will never see because they go right to spam. This is a place for people to discuss wolves not to disparage them. There are plenty of places on the Net where people can trash talk wolves. I try to provide information to wolf adocates or anyone sincerely interested in these amazing animals.

If you want to learn about the history of wolves persecution, I recommend Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and The Transformation of the West. Another great book, “Of Wolves and Men” by Barry Lopez. “The Ninemile Wolves” by Rick Bass.

PS: You have to understand wolf advocates are grieving for all the wolves that have been slain since the hunts began and Wildlife Services killing of them…over 500 dead in 2009. Our nerves are a little raw and we’re not in the mood to placate people who hate or hunt wolves. There is no reason to hunt a wolf, you can’t eat one. The only reason to hunt one is killing for sport.

Jon,
I think wolves will be relisted but as I’ve said before I hope it’s not just based on Wyoming because that will not buy them very much time. I believe Judge Molloy will consider the genetic connectivity of the three sub populations and come to the conclusion that Yellowstone wolves are basically on an island with little chance for genetic exchange. If they step outside the park they are in danger of being killed. Idaho’s wolves I’m sure have been marginalized in some areas because Wildlife Services has been taking out entire wolf packs and the hunt quota is higher in Idaho. They need to be relisted and then we have to worry about what WS is going to do. They are as big a threat as the hunts but symbolically the hunts are worse because it’s giving wolf hunting legitimacy.

Lots of new research out relating to those that “kill for fun.” They’re a segment of the abnormal “human” population. They don’t have the capacity for empathy or compassion and they only feel alive when they’re killing.
Nice to see psychologists prioritizing this issue.
CLF

Social Psychology also looks at social norms, and normative pressures. Different cultures have differing attitudes and tolerance toward certain behaviors.
Cultural Anthropology and some other disciplines explore or record these.
However, both acquisitive and defensive cultures and individual mindsets quickly involve aberrant behaviors. Look to all those explorations for insights into behavior and belief.

John…doesn’t the Spokesman have anything better to do with their time then posting this non story. Are we supposed to be moved by this? Those dang wolves are just too hard to kill. How inconvenient of them, cause they move around so much.

N – I see someone cut and pasted the Montana wolf killer list onto the BigMuley website. What in the heck is the squawking about by these wolf murderers? They plaster their mugs & “trophy” wolf pix all over the internet, and then spam you because you simply posted a list of names? Keep up the good work. The wolves thank you, too.

SL….Thanks for pointing that out to me. It’s pretty hypocritical of them to do that and complain about the list of names here. They’re probably building a shrine as I type this. I appreciate your support!!

Wolves are beautiful..but remember what they are, A K9 pure and simple. They don’t raise a family like humans, do not have human traits..This link is of a coyote. A wondering lone wolf would have gotten the same treatment.Male wolves CAN and Do eat pups, and each other. I dont think many on here have ever seen a wold, let alone understand them.

The vid in the link was edited..no the yote didn’t make it! Its a dog eat dog world, and we are top dog. I dont feel the need to apologize for it either.

I doubt this will make it past the mods. FYI, this web page is linked to dozens of hunting forums, I imagine you are getting over run with responses.

That is a bold statement, and it doesn’t really hold much water. Humans have caused many environmental catastrophes throughout their attempts to bring a ‘balance’ that is suitable for their own desires.
Humans being ‘top dog’ is not exactly correct, while we are able to kill pretty much anything that crosses our paths, this does not necessarily make us the top of the food chain. In fact our involvement has only made the populations of animals we kill weaker and less intelligent due to our insatiable desire to get the biggest and healthiest one we can find. Your video is depicting a territorial behaviour, wolves are the natural enemy of coyotes and had managed to keep their numbers restricted until their eradication from the lower 48 states by government employees and hunters seeking the bounty on the grey wolf’s head.

Mothers will kill their own pups as well typically if a sickness or defect is detected, she will then eat the body to save the meat going to waste. Male wolves kill pups which are not their own. Preserving their genes and so forth.

Hmmmm Steve,
Wolves and coyotes are natural enemies, when wolves are around they control coyote populations. In that sense the wolf is the friend of the Pronghorn Antelope because coyotes kill Pronghorn fawns. So there is a natural balance. Unlike humans who trophy hunt and kill for fun.

Grizzly boars will kill and eat another males cubs, so do male lions. It’s a way to force the female back into heat to bear his offspring. Very natural process, been going on for thousands of years.

As for wolf families, to quote Ed Bangs, Wolf Recovery Coordinator, US Fish and Wildlife Services: “Wolves are the parents, the mothers, the fathers, the brothers and sisters that we always hoped we could be. I mean there’s extreme loyalty among family members, it’s everything to them.”

Steve, I take issue with your comment that humans are “top dog”. We are one of the weakest species on the planet, no longer able to hunt without the aids of high powered weapons and humans don’t just kill other species, humans display one of the worst traits imaginable while doing it – bragging rights.

I’ve seen some of those hunting forums, probably even seen some of those guys in my neck of the woods – driving up and down the roads, in their big, comfy rigs, hoping to find that trophy in a near by pasture.
To bad these same people can’t get as worked up over grabbing a camera (instead of a weapon) when they head out into the wilderness, sort of a “snap and release” approach. They might just develop a new respect for wildlife.

Nancy I do agree with on some of your comments mainly about how humans are using high powered rifles to hunt and its true people cant say we are the top dog When we are using more and more technology to hunt at what point do people sit back and say this is not hunting its killing you cant sit on a hill side 800 yards away from your game and shoot it and call it hunting its murder plain and simple. But what I dont agree with you on is your idea of hunters, not all hunters are lazy beer drinking fat guys. Sure there is alot of them I see them every year where i live and they make me sick. But there is also another group of hunters out there that truly are differant than what you think. Hunting really does change depending on the part of the country you live in. In the west and in my area its very steep and rugged and 80% of the hunters are backpack hunters meaning they will back pack sometime 14 miles into were they want to hunt, set up camp get there game and pack it back out so not all hunters are lazy a great many are but not all. And in my area most of the hunters really do enjoy just watching wildlife and takinkg pictures I know I sure do I would rather watch a deer for hours and take pics of it than harvest it.

I agree 100% with Nancy. We humans are indeed the weakest species without our high powered weapons. Also, just because we may or may not be at the top of the food chain should never give us the right to kill any animal we want for sport. Wolves do have families. Just because they are wolves doesn’t mean they are any less important than humans Steve.

Hi Jesse, I didn’t exactly refer to all hunters as beer drinking, fat and lazy (although I’ve seen more than my share over the years) I actually do know a few that don’t buy into the hip of going after the biggest & the best. They hunt every season to put food in their freezers. They also back pack into remote locations, spending days tracking and locating game animals.

To me, these are the hunters that should have ultimate respect AND A VOICE for wolves and what they have to go thru for a meal. Wolves don’t have a comfortable tent & fire to come back to after a long hike, and a warm meal available for their bellies even though they missed an opportunity to take a shot at an elk or a deer. Wolves, sleep with a tail curled over their faces and empty bellies, if they missed an opportunity.

Wolves don’t use spotting scopes and GPS systems, they track by smell and the sight they were born with, they have an intimate knowledge of the terrain (when allowed to exist) and they also do a marvelous job of culling out the sick and the weak (keeping herds healthy) Livestock end up on the dinner menu on occasion because they are too loosely guarded (if guarded at all) and to domesticated and dumbed down to recognize a threat.

I witnessed a man once crying like a baby, he had shot a huge bull elk, near record size. He saw a head for his wall and all I saw was a dead elk who would no longer pass on his magnificent genes to his species.
Humans look for the best genes when raising livestock but have no respect for it when it comes to nature.

Why is it that every wolf picture I see, the wolf has a collar on it? Is that a wild wolf? I do see the past need for research, but not now. What else do we need to know about wolves?

So we collar, hunt, and eradicate “wild” wolves?? Isn’t this a love /hate relationship with wolves? The indiscriminate killing of wolves smacks of jealousy by those hunters to me—slightly akin to needing a giant truck to show your manhood or womanhood. To be so jealous and insecure in oneself so as to shoot something for the “fun” of it? Wolf hunters are not “real” men in my book.

nabeki- I just received a print from the painter William Strutt, entitled “and a little child shall lead them”. Have you ever seen this painting? It shows a lion, calf, sheep, wolf and I think a jaguar or leopard with a child, all of them co existing peacefully- really cool. The print cost me 24.95.

Do you think wolf populations should not be managed at all? Just curious as I first hand witnessed a group of 75 elk which had been butchered alive by wolves over the course of at least a week as the wolves trapped them in the box canyon. On the carcasses only the toungues and flanks were eaten. The flanks most likely whilst the elk were still alive. Their were two calves that for some reason weren’t killed but were still standing and mewing beside their dead mothers. I am sincere in my question as to whether you think the wolf should not be managed at all or if so what type of management plan should be enforced? Kind Regards and God Bless.

Hi Terry,
It seems many hunters have personal stories of wolf killing elk stories. Most I take with a grain of salt. BUT wolves are predators, they’re not good or bad, they are wolves. They do what wolves have been doing for thousands of years before Idaho, Montana or Wyoming were even a distant thought. It’s man’s intolerance of this apex predator, which some see as competition, that prevents the wolf from living in peace and doing what apex predators do.

Have you ever witnessed a lion kill? A grizzly kill? An African lion pride kill? Do you think they just walk over to their prey and tap them lightly on the backside and ask if they can eat them. NO…they kill them anyway they can, usually by grabbing the throat and stangling but sometimes just grabbing any part of their prey they can so they won’t get kicked. I don’t know why people think repeating wolf kill stories or devoting entire websites to them is going to somehow shed light on anything? How about let’s have websites with pictures of what animals look like when they’ve been shot multiple times with a Remington? Not the cleaned up pictures but the ones with blood running, the ones that show the damage guns and bows do. Do you think that’s a painless death? Do you think being shot with a bow is a painless death?

If we want to talk about brutal killing lets talk about humans and what they do. Humans kill billions of animals every year for food in factory farms so horrendous I have a hard time even looking at the undercover pictures. The precious cows that ranchers love so much, that get so many wolves killed, are sent to barbarous slaughterhouses where they have their brains punched in by air guns. But wait some cows don’t die from that air gun and they are strung up by their legs anyway and systematically cut apart as they roll down the assembly line..WHILE STILL ALIVE, feeling everything as their limbs are being chopped off. The line NEVER stops and certainly not for cows. Have you ever seen a picture of a horse sent down a chute to be slaughtered? Raw fear, their bodies covered in sweat? Or pigs that are put into scalding tanks of water while some are still alive and actually escape from the boiling water only to run around the killing floor until someone captures them and throws them back in?

How about cows or pigs or other farm animals that are shipped to slaughter in the winter. It could be so cold their skin freezes to the side of the truck, when they arrive at the slaughterhouses, they are just ripped off the sides of the truck, leaving their skin behind. Or on pig factory farms piglets are tossed around like baseballs, their heads smashed in with hammers, or bashed on the floor. or stepped on, their mothers kept in gestation crates so small they cannot turn around their ENTIRE LIVES and can only sit or stand.

So please do not tell me wolf-elk killing stories. Wolves are animals killing to survive. Humans should be ashamed of themselves for the suffering they inflict on animals. I won’t even go into the deer I’ve seen with arrows stuck in their sides during bow season, or the “hunters” that are guzzling down 24 packs while shooting out their “rig” windows at anything that moves. Or how about the man that recently tried to stuff a little kitten down the toliet and kicked and stepped on it so hard he broke it’s back? The neighbors heard the kitten screaming. The kitten was so badly injured he had to be put down.

I know there are responsible hunters out there and I am not against all hunters. I believe if someone truly needs to feed their family then that is a choice they make for themselves. Many of my neighbors are hunters. I don’t spend my time preaching to them on the evils of hunting. BUT I am against the wanton killing of animals for sport, it’s blood lust pure and simple. To accuse the wolf of killing for sport and then have hunters go out and blow wolves away just because they can is the height of hypocrisy. Not saying that is who you are. I’m sure you’re a decent person.

To answer your question: No I do not believe wolves should be managed. They should pull their radio collars off and let them live in peace. Wolves are self regulating, they will go where the prey is. They’ve been doing it for thousands of years without our help. Collaring is now used to find and kill wolves when they were originally designed as a research tool.

They wouldn’t think that if they were wolves and had to get kicked in the ribs or head everyday just to have breakfast. You’re right John, a healthy elk is not defenseless at all against the wolf, they are defenseless against a high powered rifle.

Its horrifying to watch but its the cold, hard truth (via undercover efforts) because there’s NO WAY slaughterhouses want these abusive, sick practices of bringing meat to the average household exposed, to the general public. Someone told me the movie has an agenda and shows alot of whats happening for shock value. WELL HELLO?? What’s it gonna take for people to realize those nicely wrapped meats didn’t just drop out of thin air at the local supermarket?

Sadly, some of my “God fearing” neighbors actually think animals were put on this planet for our benefit. The abuse will continue as long as that’s the mentality out there.

I’ve also heard those “stories” of wolf packs decimating herds of elk. Start googling Terry, find out where the elk herds out here in the west, can and can’t go, come wintertime. Find out where millions of cattle and sheep go for the summer months (at really cheap rates per allotment) and how much forage is left there for elk and deer come the fall and winter months.

Google what the re-introduction of wolves did for Yellowstone’s ecosystem not to mention the boost in dollars, to surrounding communities.

I think it is reasonable to remember that we humans have altered the face of the natural world in many places to the extent that sometimes “Nature” does not work the way it once did. Letting “Nature” take its course in an altered system can lead to many unintended and very unfortunate consequences.

I have noticed a post or two lamenting over the presence of humans and looking forward to the time when humans are no longer having any effect on the natural world. You can do your part to speed this along by not reproducing or by removing yourself from the community. To do otherwise would be to perpetuate that which you seem to hate.

As long as there are humans there will be effects on the natural world. We can try to minimize those effects by a variety of means such as hiring trained professionals to try to manage our altered ecosystems. These managers are sometimes not very successful and seem, at times, to be lacking in knowledge and good judgment, but theirs is a difficult job of trying to balance many factors in order to achieve a favorable outcome.

Another thing to remember is that population ecologists and wildlife managers are more concerned with the populations of the animals and plants than they are with the individuals. Nature can be very cruel to individuals (there are very few pleasant deaths in the wild) and wildlife managers may find it necessary to employ lethal means to help insure the populations are maintained at appropriate levels.

Hi Charlie,
Not sure what posts you read but I don’t think anyone commenting on this site thinks humans are going to magically disappear. What we are protesting is the non-issue of wolf control. Wolves kill minuscule numbers of livestock yet entire federal programs are built around monitoring them, darting them, collaring them, tracking them, counting them and killing them. 1300 wolves died since 1995 for 1300 cattle out of a total of SIX MILLION cattle. Coyotes are the main killers of livestock and even they do very little harm. It’s weather, disease, theft and reproductive issues that cause the damage to cows. AND of course cattle end up being slaughtered anyway because they’re raised for profit to be eaten. The “managers’ are managing wolves because ranchers don’t like them and elk hunters see them as competition. Since state game agencies derive their profit’s from licensing fees it creates a direct conflict of interest and the wolf loses every time. In wildlife “management” some species are more important then others. Carnivores get the short shrift . That’s the reality.

g…
Not sure why his comment ended up in the January comments. It’s way up there. I just get so tired of hearing about elk and livestock.

This is what he said:
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2010/03/21 at 6:32pm | In reply to nabeki.
let them get over populated and you will see the elk herd get reduced by 1/3 along with the farmers life stock, i well agree with you on some of your thoughts, they are every pretty animals, and like you said they are predators and do hunt to eat, byt perrty or not they do have to be kept to a controlable number.
================

Hi Nikki,
It really is quite unreal at times. But I live in the Northern Rockies and often see this lack of empathy by some hunters. Its’ very scary. I can only trace this to how they are brought up. Children are empty canvasses. Apparently some people raise their children to love killing and death. It’s a sad statement on our culture..

Sadly Maryann..the haters think it’s all about them and what they want. And as long as we have hunters and ranchers running fish and game we will have these awful policies. Where are the environmentalists on the state game agencies? We have a Montana wolf biologist and manager bragging about killing a wolf like it was an out of body experience. This situation is intolerable.

I value wolves and their right to exist in our eco-system. However, like everything else, they do need to be managed and have their numbers kept in check. I am an ethical hunter and hunting guide and I have always been respectible in my hunting practices. I am NOT ASHAMED of any of my actions in killing a wolf, nor am I ashamed of being number two on your list. Perhaps you should spend your time listing the names of convicted rapists instead of innocent, law abiding individuals. I am proud that Montana has finally allowed for wolf hunting and the revenue that has been generated due to tag sales has help pay for the “reintroduction” of wolves instead of our tax dollars.

“manage” 560 wolves in an area the size of 2 Spains together! How pathetic is that? And for what? Because people like you unfortunately still have the idea that less wolves= more elk
I am NOT saying that you think that, but I don’t believe wolves need to be hunted. They say their numbers need to be “managed”, but that’s only a way of saying that since they have been-prematurely-delisted they will approach and start hunting wolves to satisfy irresponsible ranchers and lazy elk hunters. And yes, I think you should be really ashamed of have done such thing, and no, no way of sport hunting (if that’s what you do) is “ethical”.

It is seriously pathetic Loua and all about “wolf politics”. There is no reason to be killing wolves, hunts or otherwise. Most rancher have lazy animal husbandry practices and expect the feds and states to kill wolves for them. Coyotes are the number one predator of cattle, domestic dogs are next. Not to demonize coyotes but lets get a little perspective here. Montana lost 63,000 head of cattle (NASS 2005) but ranchers complain bitterly about miniscule wolf kills. It’s all an effort to demonize wolves so they can kill them.

This is a site about wolves and wildlife, not convicted rapists. Law abiding or not is not going to matter to those who like and care about wolves. Do not kid yourself, you are not innocent. You took a wolf’s life for sport. You should be ashamed of your actions. You killed a wolf that did not deserve to die.

Well said Jon. The only justification the wolf hunters can come up with is the hunt was legal and wolves need to be managed. Well it was only legal because the state is managing wolves for hunters and ranchers. They don’t even see it for what it is…sheer blood lust.

Man is more capable of doing meanful and hateful things.We plan and scheme the demise others.Man can stop their behavoir,but chose not to or even worse,just look the other way.What man is capable of doing to children and others is more frightening.It’s the beasts that walk on two legs that people should be wary of,better yet,scared of.

Rita….humans are the most brutal of predators and they are showing just how brutal they can be with their terrible “management” of wolves. We need to keep protesting this though. We can’t let wolves down no matter how dark it seems.

Legalised extermination under the guise of human interest protection and safety: it has happened. One such instance of this occurring is the Thylacine. Its been going on for a number of years and with many species, none so more than with the carnivores and its a simple tactic to get the ball rolling: “poor ranchers just have it so tough! Now some beastie is killing his/her poor unprotected…err… defenceless cattle!”
Sport hunters are just so happy to oblige efforts to ‘control’ the problem rather than delve a little deeper and use their heads to figure out the real problem.

There are also many ‘crimes’ that can be committed while still being within the law. Among them adultery, negligence when it comes to children’s educational needs, lack of concern for livestock well-being and trapping [in general].

The way things are going we won’t have wolves in Montana very long or they will be mere shadows on the landscape. Will Judge Molloy buy wolves some time? I can only hope..because if this hunt goes forward in 2010 it will be brutal and do major damage to the wolf population. So much killing has gone on already.

First I’d like to say I’m not in any way condemning your efforts here. I’ve always respected someone willing to stand up for their beleifs!(I beleive everyone should)
I am however shocked at some of the comments i’ve read on this sight and the biased opinions (not really wanting to hear the other side.)
When I was younger I was a very avid hunter, wasn’t handed down to me from my folks, just somrthing I enjoyed.One of my favorite spots is 20 miles back in from civilization and motorised vehicles. Yes I use my horses and mules for the trip, therefore maybe I am lazy. Course I lost my right leg in a motorcycle accident in ’83.. I also will be veiwed as an unethical hunter because I only shoot game for the size of there antlers..(Yes, I have a really nice trophy room) However I have never wasted the meat, I put some in my freezer, but the majority I give to families in need. (I rather enjoy the smiles and tears I receive from these people.) Although, I haven’t shot an animal in almost 11 years I still enjoy the packing trips and helping my friends retreive their game.Along with the stories around the campfire.
I pay for my license and tag every year, the same revenue generated to feed all of natures game in the winter and beleive some of that was used to introduce the wolves in yellowstone as well. (without feeding the elk and deer in winter, their would be alot higher mortality rate, therefore less food for the wolves!, so I guess I’m feeding them as well.)
I also own and operate a cattle ranch! Although a smaller ranch (135 acres) I am very disappointed in the fact you would insinuate again as to my laziness? I put in approximately 50-60 hours a week at my Automotive repair shop (day job) and then work all night and weekend on my ranch. My property taxes I and other ranchers pay a year, are outrageous and is what keeps your kids in school,the upkeep to the roads you drive on, your libraries for your wolf research opened. etc., ect, ect,!!! I did’t mean to write a story, just wanted to let you know a little about myself.
I have always thought the wolf was one of natures most fascinating and beautiful creatures! I actually chose the wolf as my topic for my high school research paper, I have the utmost respect for them. With that said, contrary to your beleif, the wolf is a “sport hunter” themselves. Yes, they kill to survive, they also kill, just to kill. They definately have their place in the ecosystem, but need natural enemies, just as the rest of God’s creatures. Therefore I beleive they need to be managed and their numbers controlled. Have I shot one? No!, would I? Yes, if necessary.. I have been in contact with one in the wild. Every step I take towards it. It would take one towards me. Every step I’d take away from it, it would take one towards me..This was why still on the endangered list, so I finally placed a shot next to it, and it slowly retreated. But wasn’t in a hurry! I tell you this story because I would like to hear your thoughts if that was you? Better yet your children or grandchildren?? They would have been lunch!
One way to control them without killing them, would be to trap them and spred them around the country in all the parks for everyone to enjoy.. Hey, lets put a pack in Central Park! What ya think.. Anyway, thanks for listening to my side, even though I know you won’t agree with me. Good luck with your fight.

Hi Thom,
I’m not attacking you personally. I’m sure you’re a hard working man but the fact is the cattle industry is the single biggest obstacle to wolf recovery. Wolves were here long before cattle ever showed up. We’ve done very wrong by the wolf and mostly is was the ranchers that were behind it, stretching back hundreds of years. Many, not all, ranchers rely on the feds as their private wolf extermination service. They have no incentive to be pro active and they get paid for every wolf kill, while they don’t get paid for lightening strikes, disease or injury to their stock.

Wolves don’t need to be managed. The only people that think that are the ranchers, outfitters and hunters that are in competition with the wolf. Wolves are self regulating, they go where the prey is. At this point the states have them so boxed in they can’t take a step without being blown away and mostly it’s due to cattle. Sorry but that’s the truth.

Hunters saying that wolves hunt for sport is laughable. What exactly is it that human hunters do when they kill wolves, mountain lions, etc? They are hunting for sport just like they accuse wolves of doing. Can you say hypocrities? Human hunters kill just to kill and I bet they kill far more animals than wolves. You are right on the money Nabeki. Hunters want wolves killed because they are much more efficient hunters than themselves and they hate competition.

“I’m not attacking you personally”. Sorry but I feel you are, I’m a hunter and a rancher.
“Wolves were here long before cattle ever showed up. We’ve done very wrong by the wolf” Yes, so was the native Americans, The spanish, The buffalo, etc. etc. Something I’m not proud of but is also the truth! Maybe we should all leave and give all their land back.

“Many, not all, ranchers rely on the feds as their private wolf extermination service.” Again I must disagree! Until recently, the feds would throw a fine and imprisonment on us for killing a wolf, even to protect are cattle (Our livelyhood)
“Wolves don’t need to be managed. The only people that think that are the ranchers, outfitters and hunters that are in competition with the wolf.” Again I must disagree.. Maybe we should ask the school teacher from Alaska (who was only out for an evening jog and was mauled and murdered by wolves last fall)family from New York.. Neither ranchers or hunters!
“Wolves are self regulating, they go where the prey is.” This I agree with.. But when the prey is gone they then move on to the next feeding ground. The one reason why they should be controlled.
I do not want and will not start a debate with you on your own web sight, therefore this will be the last time I right here. Again I’m not condemning you for your beleifs and effort here.. I’m only asking you that you have an open mind, and quit attacking a couple groups of people. Yes some hunters (and I don’t consider them hunters)hunt from their trucks sucking on beers, but I feel that is a small percentage and shouldn’t condemn all of us for a fews ignorance!
And it really shocks me you would attack ranchers that are trying to protct their lively hood! It has been mentioned on this sight that the wolf does not know border lines… Well neither do our cattle, therfore we spend millions of $$$$ a year building and maintaining fences to teach them the borders.. Maybe you could put up fences on specified tracts of land (reservations) and we wouldn’t feel threatened by them anymore. A nice 6ft chicken wire fence would keep em in and let the deer and elk travel in and out as they please. If one was to escape then it would have to take it’s chances, much like our cattle!
I hope I haven’t offended you in anyway as that is not my intentions. just trying to give you a little food for thought as I myself have learned alot from your side of this as well.
Sorry but that’s the truth.
Thom

Just thought I might add this individual as an ‘[dis]honourable’ mention, though I doubt she is from Montana:
Zhon, self-proclaimed ‘animal mortician’ and claims she respects animals – I could hardly say her statements are accurate considering her nonchalance with trapping, fur trading, trophy hunting, aerial gunning programs and her outright sugar-coating of the actions and attitudes of sport hunters(her sister, an Alaskan, hunts wolves).

Her ‘gallery’ page is on DeviantArt, be warned it may offend – but we’re not supposed to get angry at her because a sport hunter paid her to do it and they would just leave the body to rot otherwise.

HOW MANY OF YOU EAT MEAT? HOW MANY WOULD LET A NEST OF RATTLE SNAKES LIVE UNDER YOU SHED (DO YOU HAVE CHILDREN?). YOUNG RATTLE SNAKES HAVE NOT GROWN RATTLES TO WARN YOU OFF AND THEIR BITE IS MORE FATAL THAN AN ADULT. HOW MANY HUMAN COYOTE CONFLICTS ARE WE SEEING AS THE COYOTE, AN AMAZING ANIMAL, ONE OF THE SMARTEST IN THE UNITED STATES, ADAPT AND LEARN HOW TO LIVE IN INNER CITIES WITHOUT PEOPLE EVEN KNOWING THEY ARE THERE UNTILL FLUFFY, OR WORSE YET LITTLE JOHNNY IS ATTACKED OR KILLED. REMEMBER THE PLACE YOU CALL HOME USED TO BE WHAT ALL WILDLIFE CALLED HOME BEFORE WE TOOK IT FROM THEM. OH, AND I THINK WE DID THAT TO THE INDIANS WHEN WE CAME HERE! LET US ALL REMEMBER HOW WE MADE IT THIS WAY. WE TAKE AND TAKE, SHRINKING THE LAND ALL WILDLIFE LIVES IN. OVERPOPULATION PUTS DEER IN YOUR BACKYARDS EATING YOUR SHRUBS AND YOU COMPLAIN, MOVE THEM, DO NOT KILL THEM OR MAYBE GIVE THEM SOME TYPE OF CONTRACEPTIVE, I DON’T WANT MY CHILD GET LYMES DISEASE! WE KEEP SCREWING WITH NATURE AND IT BITES US IN THE ASS! WHERE DID THE KILLER BEES COME FROM? ANOTHER MAN MADE SCREW UP. THERE NEEDS TO BE POPULATION CONTROL IN ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE. WE THE PEOPLE HAVE A GOVERNMENT THAT DECIDES HOW THAT IS DONE. WE HAVE TO KEEP THE PEOPLE SAFE. THE NATIONAL ELECTRIC CODE, ANOTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCY, STATES ALL ELECTRICAL OUTLETS NEAR WATER MUST BE PROTECTED WITH A GROUND FAULT CURRENT INTERRUPTER. WE WERE TAUGHT NOT TO STICK ANYTHING IN AN ELECTRIC OUTLET AND NOT TO PUT A RADIO NEAR THE TUB OR SWIMMING POOL. DEATHS STILL HAPPENED AND THE GOVERNMENT STEPPED IN TO PROTECT US WITH A LAW, INSTALL GFCIS. SORRY, IF YOUR ARE THAT STUPID TO PUT A RADIO NEAR THE TUB OR POOL YOU NEED TO BE WEEDED OUT OF THE GENE POOL, I DON’T WANT YOU TO MAKE A CHILD THAT WILL GROW UP AS STUPID AS OR STUPIDER THAN YOU! POPULATION CONTROL. WOW, THE STATE OF THIS COUNTRY IS DUE TO THE LIKES OF PEOPLE ON THIS WEB SIGHT. MAYBE IF YOU PEOPLE PUT 1/2 THE TIME HELPING OTHER HUMANS INSTEAD OF WOLVES THIS COUNTRY WOULD NOT BE IN THE SHAPE IT’S IN. HMM, I WONDER HOW MANY OF YOU VOTED FOR OBAMA?

We spend our time helping wolves because we love and care about our native carnivores and other wildlife who are being slaughtered for agribusiness. The little known but horribly destructive agency is called Wildlife Services, (the name is an oxymoron). Would you like to see the numbers? Here’s an example of the government management you love so much:

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Who is Wildlife Services? If you asked the majority of Americans, they probably couldn’t tell you. It was formerly known as “Animal Damage Control (ADC)”. The agency is the extermination arm of the Department of Agriculture.

“It’s just a subsidy to agriculture.. Somehow we’ve decided as a culture that agriculture should be subsidized through the death of animals and this agency is particularly destructive because it robs the public of wildlife and doesn’t even do that much good.” (Jay Tutchton, Environmental law clinic, University of Denver School of Law)

They have the authority to trap, poison, shoot and aerial gun animals, done mainly for the livestock industry. Because Wildlife Services keeps a low profile, most people have no idea their tax dollars are paying a federal agency to kill off predators and other wildlife to “protect ranching.”

If you’ve ever wondered, as I have, what’s happened to all the foxes, raccoons, beavers and coyotes, just to name a few, well now you know. A good many of them are being blown away each year by this agency. And most of us, have absolutely nothing to say about it. Does that seem right to you?

The statistics are shocking

Wildlife Services killed 1456 gray wolves nationally from 2004 to 2008. That’s an average of 364 dead wolves per year. They even killed 9 Mexican Gray wolves in that same time period, one of the most endangered animals in the US, they only number 52 wolves.

“The governments own figures again show that mammalian carnivores kill very few livestock (0.18%) Of the 104.5 million cattle that were produced in 2005, 190,000 (or 0.18%) died as the result of predation from coyotes, domestic dogs, and other carnivores (USDA, 2006). In comparison, livestock producers lost 3.9 million head of cattle (3.69%) to all sorts of maladies, weather, or theft, respiratory problems, digestive problems, calving, unknown, other, disease, lameness, metabolic problems, poison (USDA, 2006)

Coyotes were the primary cattle predators — they killed 97,000 cattle in 2005, followed by domestic dogs — which killed 21,900 cattle. Wolves killed remarkably few cattle, 4,400 head, as did the felids (USDA, 2006)”

“Wildlife Service kill totals for mammals were up sharply from previous years:

•A record number of gray wolves (278), the subject of a highly publicized reintroduction effort, were killed in numbers that are up more than six-fold since 1996;
Another 116,610 mammalian carnivores, including 87,000 coyotes, 10,000 raccoons, 2,500 bobcats, 500 badgers, and 318 black bears were taken by federal wildlife agents who also killed 1,184 housecats and 512 dogs; and

•Approximately 50,000 animals from the rodent and rabbit families—the largest toll came from beavers (28,000), followed by nutria (2,500), and marmots and woodchucks (3,700).”
2004-2008

Click this link to see the number of mammilian carnivores killed by Wildlife Services from 2004 through 2008: Beavers aren’t included on the list because they’re in the rodent family but we know Wildlife Services kills large numbers of them each year, 28, 000 in 2006.

Trapping may be the most inhumane method used by Wildlife Services. Traps can go unchecked for days, allowing the animal to suffer. When not killed outright by the trap, animals can endure physiological trauma, dehydration, exposure to severe weather, and predation by other animals. Most traps are notoriously indiscriminate, capturing almost any animal who triggers them. Non-target species found in traps include endangered species, raptors, dogs, and cats. The most commonly used trap is the steel-jawed leghold trap, a restraining device with spring-loaded jaws that clamp on an animal’s foot or leg when triggered. Leghold traps can cause fractures, self-mutilation, limb amputation, and death. A desperate animal will even try to chew off a limb to escape. Snares are primitive wire nooses that tighten around an animal’s leg or neck. When snared, an animal may struggle for days.

Aerial gunning

“Wildlife Services uses helicopters and fixed wing aircraft to shoot animals from the air. In 2007, the agency killed over 37,000 animals using aircraft. An agency Environmental Assessment revealed many wounded animals may be left to die.[4] Because Wildlife Services uses snowfall to track coyotes in early spring, agents may kill pregnant or lactating females. Deaths of the latter leave pups to starve. Aerial gunning is also used for “preventative predator control,” permitting agents to shoot as many carnivores as they can prior to domestic animals entering an area. The price tag for shooting carnivores from the sky can be high: killing one coyote can cost $1,000.

Poisoning

In 2005, Wildlife Services used M-44s, small devices that shoot cyanide gas into an animal’s mouth when triggered, to kill more than 12,700 animals nationally.

Wildlife Services prefers two toxins to kill predators: Sodium Monofluoroacetate (aka Compound 1080), a rat poison developed by the Nazis during World War II, and sodium cyanide. To distribute 1080, the agency uses Livestock Protection Collars – rubber bladders attached to the neck of a goat or sheep that, when pierced, releases the poison. 1080 is so lethal a single teaspoon can kill 100 people. Wildlife Services also sets M-44 devices, spring-loaded, baited mechanisms that release sodium cyanide into the mouth of any animal who disturbs the device. 1080 and sodium cyanide present serious national security risks. The FBI has listed both as “super poisons” that are “most likely to be used by terrorists or for malicious intent.”

Denning

Denning is the practice of tracking carnivores to their dens then killing pups inside. Poisonous gas canisters are placed in dens to asphyxiate pups. Or government agents dig pups out and shoot, club, or decapitate them. Pups have even been burned alive in their den.

Wildlife Services’ lethal control programs ignore the importance of carnivores. As “keystone species,” carnivores play a pivotal role in sustaining ecological integrity and preserving species diversity. For example, large carnivores regulate deer and elk, as well as smaller mammal, populations. The disappearance of top carnivores triggers the loss of other species and the intricate connections among the remaining residents begin to unravel. Many carnivore species need big, wild areas to survive. Wide-ranging animals like grizzly bears are considered “umbrella” species. By protecting habitat for such predators, we save places for many more animal and plant species.””

jjk, This is a wildlife blog, specifically a blog for wolves. People have different passions and care for different things. Go post on a blog that is dedicated to helping your fellow man and stay off this one. Who are you to tell us what or who we should be helping or put first? We decide on our own choices, not you.

The following is a quote from you web sight”Unfortunately he was shot and killed, outside Daniel, Wyoming, on the day ESA protections for wolves were lifted the first time, in March 2008, by the then Bush Administration.” All of you need a pack or two in you neighborhood so you can love them and enjoy them and hug them and kiss them, come on, they are wild animals not humans, you people disgust me, you treat a wild animal better than a human. YOU PEOPLE WHO WANT TO FEEL ALL WARM AND FUZZY AND BE PC ARE WHY THIS COUNTRY IS SO SCREWED UP.

Who said anything about hugging or kissing a wolf? Everyone on here knows wolves are WILD AND UNPREDICTABLE ANIMALS. We appreciate wolves for the amazing animals they are. If we disgust you because we like wolves very much, take a hike from this blog and don’t come back. You are not wanted here. Afterall, we make you sick.

jjk….Please go away, your spelling errors alone are enough to drive anyone crazy. You have no idea what that quote meant or who it was about. You have absolutely zero knowledge of what you’re talking about concerning wolves. Your own dog is more dangerous then wolves, that’s if you have a dog. Dogs bite 4.5 million people every year and kill twenty. There have been two fatal wolf attacks in the last fifty years in North America. Should we ban all dogs and I’m a dog lover?

Do you know what a trophic cascade is? I’m not going to waste my time telling you but look it up.

Everyone on the blog recognizes wolves are predators and wild animals, we understand the role predators play in creating healthy ecosystems. I happen to live in wolf country, do you? I’m sure not, you’re just someone who thinks it’s fun to troll a wolf blog, insult it’s readers and make ridiculous statements. Good bye.

jjk.This not a political form and you will have to go to those forums to address why the country is a mess.Like Jon rather said ,humans caused it.You don’t see wolves,elk,or any other animal running around with a credit card raking up debt?Everyone is mad,worried,and upset about the country and its future.I know I am.My husband retired after 30 years from his job only to go back to work,both daughters work,I watch my grandson,and help out whoever needs it.It is hard to hold on what we have.Be as it may,this is a wolf blog.

Quit populating the planet and give it back to the animals.You keep wanting to protect the animals you have pushed out of its natural habitat.So really game management is the only answer unless you want to remove you ass out of their living room. Its always the same old rant by the tree huggers.But your the first one in line with your big car and house up on the hill.Your leather shoes and leather seats.The wolf needs to be kept in check and thats that.If its by legal means or by other its going to happen.They are destroying the populations of many other animals they compete for space.So if you want to help them kill your self and give them more land to live on.
Sick of hearing about your sad tear jerking story of someone hunting a wolf.How about how many animals were killed for the land you stole from them for your home.The poor gopher and field mouse and so on. Hypocrits !!!!!

Hunter #1: We’ve been walking for five minutes and haven’t seen an elk, it’s those dang wolves. They need to be wiped out, I mean controlled. Man look at my rig, I can barely see it. It’s got to be a LEAST five hundred feet away.

Hunter #2: I hear ya brother, we used to be able to shoot em right from the road.

One of these bastards is right next door to me. He blew the leg off a buck 60 feet from my house and the poor thing was trying to jump the fence, but his front shoulder was blown off. Karma will catch him. Bragged about shooting a wolf and she SCREAMED!. The idiot can’t even shoot accurately. Karma will even things out, I am positive.

Cindy that is heartbreaking. The image of that poor buck trying to climb over the fence without his shoulder is so horrible. Great shooting by that idiot. Yeah all the deer and elk in the forest are killed with one clean shot. NOT!!! I have seen so many gut shot, arrow filled deer it makes me nauseated. I used to be tolerant of hunting but not anymore.

Did you know about the famous hunting case in Maine where a hunter killed a young mother of twin girls in her own backyard? Here’s the story:

After reading all the above comments I’m left to wonder if there is no middle ground? Hunters seem to be painted with the same brush on this site, that we are predators with no concern for any pain and suffering they may cause their prey, and that those hunters that work hard to protect the environment etc. only do so for selfish reasons. This has not been my experience. The hunters I’ve met and know love nature, they talk about what kind of hawk flew by etc., they pick up and pack out garbage they find in the woods, they are in tune with the environment. They also are aware that the biggest threat to nature is loss of habitat. I do not pretend to be an expert, however I know that Wolf populations will have long and short term impact on Elk, Deer, Coyote etc. by direct predation as well as indirectly i.e. lower birth rates of Elk due to stress. (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-07/msu-gye071709.php). I also know that Wolves are efficient predators (like man) and that they do kill for sport (or shall I say they give in to instinct). I’d rather have a Wolf management system, that tries to keep a balance, as well as keeps Wolves wary of humans. I do predict that left unmanaged and not hunted that there will be attacks on humans because whether we like it or not humans are pretty easy prey.

Hi John,
We’re not saying all hunters are bloodthirsty people or they don’t love nature. The problem is the killing part. When wolf hunters do the things they do to wolves, shown in the video, there is no middle ground. Wolf hunts are cruel and vicious, it doesn’t seem enough for these “people” to kill wolves, they also want to torture them. That is not acceptable to us and there is no compromise on wolf hunts.

As for wolf management, wolves are self regulating. Many will disperse from their natal packs to find mates and new territory. It’s humans who are preventing this by shooting wolves when they cross over state lines. Going through Wyoming to Colorado or Utah is running the gauntlet for wolves. They are usually shot and killed, end of journey.

Attacks on humans by wolves are so rare they are an anomaly.Wolves are deathly afraid of people and will go as far away from them as they can. You have more of a chance of being captured by aliens, then being bitten by a wolf. OTOH, your house wolf in your living room, your dog, if you have one, bites 4.5 million people a year and kills another twenty. See how facts look when you shine light on them?

You seem like a nice guy, so I won’t be too hard on you but wolf advocates have compromised and compromised and it’s gotten us nowhere. In 1995, when wolves were reintroduced, wolf advocates compromised and allowed wolves to be classified as an experimental non-essential population. which meant they could be shot for agribusiness. This has gotten hundreds of wolves killed for minimal depredations. Where did that compromise get wolves? DOW has been paying ranchers for years for minimal wolf depredations, where has that gotten wolves? Ranchers are even more intolerant of wolves now then they were then.

Before you repeat the mythical dogma the anti-wolf crowd likes to preach, please read up on wolves. And one other thing, it’s not all about hunters and their needs. Most wildlife watchers don’t kill animals and enjoy viewing them in nature. We are being denied many of those opportunities because of hunting and the actions of Wildlife Services. Hunters have to realize they are not the only ones in the woods, they don’t own the woods, they don’t own elk, they don’t own deer and they don’t own wolves.

Im sick of people saying that we need to keep certain species numbers in control… the irony is that the world be a much healthier and overall better place if human numbers were kept in controll. We are the most damaging species on this earth and no one takes this into consideration, we are saying that there are too many of other species when in fact there are too many of us.

Ashleigh….They have code words for killing animals…management, control, culling, harvesting. It’s all the same thing. The fish and game agencies set the whole operation up as a business. They keep ungulate numbers high for the hunters, who buy the licensing fees that flow into fish and game coffers. They keep predator numbers low because they are seen as competition for their “customers”. It’s all a big farce, it’s not wildlife…it’s a big zoo out there, manipulated by fish and game.

I cannot help but notice that the language of humans is the language of war. It deeply hurts me at the obvious lack of respect for Gia, and the enormous and ever-wonderful library of life forms. This lack of repect is shown ever more clearly in the normalization of contemp that humans have for each other. I have reached 57 years of age and know that I could not have come this far if it were not for the teachings, unconditional love, and companionship of the animal kingdom…and I’m an urbanite!

People that kill animals eSpecially wolves are murderous evil no good monsters and I hope and pray they do their share of suffering for the evil they do, they have no soul, along with the evil stinking lawmakers with OBAMA BEING THE WORST OF THEM ALL HE OPENS HIS MOUTH HE LIES,

Those man in your list are pure evil.How a man can kill the beautifulest creature of the world like that.They are nothing more than murderous. I am an old wolf lover and i say we must save wolf. If a man ever kill an alpha male of a pack he don’t know what he just did. i hope that those in your list will have what they deserve to have.There is only one word to explain what is a wolf and its BEAUTIFUL.I am happy to see that there is not only me that care about wolf.If a man kill a wolf, respectively or not he comit a crime.I think a life of wolf is more valorous than a life of man.I am perfectly right with you zabeki.

People just stop killing wolves full stop. Even if wolves are killing your animals, get better fences and all that to keep em out! Wolves are beautiful animals, they rarely attack humans so why should we kill them + their families? Wolves will take your animals and eat them but it’s the way things go! These beautiful creatures may soon be extinct. If that happens, who’s going to get the blame?…

What I wonder is that- do the hunters ever stop and think, “wait, what if I was the wolf and the wolf was the hunter. I would get shot, chased, collared, etc. Would I like it?” The wolves don’t like it do they? You wouldn’t like it. TEAM WOLF!!! 😀

I think people who shoot these beautiful wolves just to get a thrill are sick murderers!! They have no conscience!! What’s wrong with people? You have no right to kill these animals just for a quick thrill! You will have to answer to the higher up later!

The hunters sounds as if they are so sympathic to the cattle and sheep. But I’ll bet every one of them loves his steak and hamburge. If the ranchers were so concerned, why do they leave their animals out in the wild, in all kinds of weather, with no help for birth problems or illness or injury? Hypocrites! They just plain hate wolves with an anger that seems pathological. Personally, I so have empathy for the prey animals. I’m sure it must be terrifying to be chased down by pack of wolves and killed. However, the wolves are what they are. They have a place in nature. It is not our right to trap them, snare them, shoot them, and kill them in ways that are downright sadistic. I hate the pictures of hunters holding up dead wolves and smiling, as if they had done something to be proud of. They are too stupid and clueless to be ashamed.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Wolf 253, the beloved Yellowstone Druid wolf named Limpy, who was shot and killed in March 08, on the very day ESA protections were lifted for the gray wolf, by the then Bush Administration.